Tag: NASA
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NASA says it is “evaluating all options” for the safe return of Starliner crew
It has now been eight weeks since Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft launched into orbit on an Atlas V rocket, bound for the International Space Station. At the time NASA officials said the two crew members, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, could return to Earth as soon as June 14, just eight days later. Yes, there had…
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Boeing’s Starliner has cost at least twice as much as SpaceX’s Crew Dragon
Boeing announced another financial charge Wednesday for its troubled Starliner commercial crew program, bringing the company’s total losses on Starliner to $1.6 billion. In its quarterly earnings report, Boeing registered a $125 million loss on the Starliner program, blaming delays on the spacecraft’s still-ongoing Crew Flight Test, the program’s first mission to carry astronauts into…
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NASA’s Lunar Gateway has a big visiting vehicles problem
Do you remember the Lunar Gateway? You could be forgiven if not, as the program continues to be tossed around by NASA planners, and it is still not entirely clear what purpose the lunar space station is supposed to serve. The Gateway—a small space station that will fly in a halo orbit around the Moon…
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SpaceX moving Dragon splashdowns to Pacific to solve falling debris problem
Sometime next year, SpaceX will begin returning its Dragon crew and cargo capsules to splashdowns in the Pacific Ocean and end recoveries of the spacecraft off the coast of Florida. This will allow SpaceX to make changes to the way it brings Dragons back to Earth and eliminate the risk, however tiny, that a piece…
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NASA nears decision on what to do with Boeing’s troubled Starliner spacecraft
The astronauts who rode Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station last month still don’t know when they will return to Earth. Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have been in space for 51 days, six weeks longer than originally planned, as engineers on the groundwork through problems with Starliner’s propulsion system. The problems…
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Falcon 9’s return to flight reminds spaceflight industry of past anomalies
Nearly every rocket that has flown has had an anomaly. With thousands of components that all need to work in perfect harmony to have a successful mission, there is likely to be one component that is unable to perform every once in a while. While witnessing an anomaly in spaceflight is not as improbable as…
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Make-or-break tests on tap for Boeing’s Starliner capsule
Boeing’s Starliner, docked at the International Space Station, pictured in a long-duration exposure as the craft soared 258 miles above western China. Image: NASA. Critical tests are on tap this weekend to confirm Boeing’s Starliner capsule can safety carry its two-person crew back to Earth despite unexpected helium leaks and degraded maneuvering thrusters, officials said…
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SpaceX launches Falcon 9 return to flight mission from the Kennedy Space Center
The Falcon 9 returns to flight two weeks after an upper stage failure. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now. A two-week launch hiatus for SpaceX came to a close after midnight on Saturday with the Starlink 10-9 mission returning the Falcon 9 to flight after an upper stage mishap on a July 11 grounded the workhorse rocket.…
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Rocket delivered to launch site for first human flight to the Moon since 1972
The central piece of NASA’s second Space Launch System rocket arrived at Kennedy Space Center in Florida this week. Agency officials intend to start stacking the towering launcher in the next couple of months for a mission late next year carrying a team of four astronauts around the Moon. The Artemis II mission, officially scheduled…
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“Not a bluff”—NASA’s budget would shut down long-lived Chandra telescope
NASA launched the Chandra X-ray Observatory 25 years ago this week, opening a new eye on the Universe and giving astronomers vision into unimaginably violent cosmic environments like exploding stars and black holes. But Chandra’s mission may soon end as NASA’s science division faces a nearly billion-dollar budget shortfall. NASA says it can no longer…